A court hearing was held in Moscow on the case of the murder of crime boss Yaponchik (Vyacheslav Ivankov).
Killer Astamur Butba was sentenced in absentia to 19 years in a maximum security prison colony. This decision was made by a Moscow court on Monday, August 5.
The convicted man has fled from justice. He is currently on the international wanted list, TASS reports.
After committing the crime, Butba could have gone into hiding in Abkhazia. He has citizenship of this country. The search for the suspect continues.
The court handed down the verdict 15 years after Yaponchik's murder. The crime boss was shot with a sniper rifle in Moscow in the summer of 2009.
He spent some time in hospital and died on October 9 at the age of 70.
The investigation identified not only the perpetrators, but also the person who ordered the crime. According to law enforcement, it was the thief in law Ilya Simonia.
